漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
要: need, main point
Also: essence, pivot, key to
JLPT N39 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met
覀 carries the meaning · 女 is drawn in
9 strokes
Three readings, and the words that use each
ヨウyou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 必要なひつようなnecessary
- 不要なふようなunnecessary
- 重要なじゅうようなimportant
- 需要じゅようdemand
- 要約するようやくするsummarize
- 要求するようきゅうするdemand [v.t.]
- 要するようするrequire
いるiru · kun'yomi · on its own
- 要るいるneed
かなめkaname · kun'yomi
- 肝心要かんじんかなめmain point
- 要石かなめいしkeystone
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
A man 大 then drawn as a woman (女) with two hands pointing to his/her midsection. On top of the character there was huge eye 目, then stylized as a horn 角.
Source: Wiktionary, 要 (rev. 93576844), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Cover (襾) + woman (女). Originally represented a woman's belt or "cover" for the waist, eventually evolving to mean something "essential" or "important" that holds things together.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side要 need · 女
vs価 value · 亻In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yào
Same form: 要 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 要 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 要 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin yào most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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